The present invention relates to the general technical field of devices for applying products which are meltable or softenable by application of heat, such as depilatory wax, ointments, creams, or even glues or varnishes. These products are stored in solid form at room temperature, and must be subjected to a thermal flux in order to undergo a change of state and pass into a less viscous, or more fluid, or flowable, state in order to be applied. The products to which this invention relates, and which have the above properties, will be referred to hereinafter as meltable, the term being used herein to encompass products which are either liquifiable or softenable to a flowable state.
The present invention concerns more particularly an applicator for meltable products, in particular depilatory wax, comprising a housing associated with a gripping means, a reservoir for the product to be applied in thermal communication with heating means and at least one applicator roller disposed in the vicinity of an outlet orifice of the reservoir.
The present invention equally concerns in an advantageous manner an extraction gripper, or pliers for an applicator roller mounted on an applicator according to the invention, as well as an assembly for applying meltable products comprising the meltable product applicator itself associated with the extraction gripper. Meltable products include, according to the invention, all types of products capable of having, at room temperature, a solid, semi-solid or pasty state, but changing, when heat is applied thereto, their physical state in the direction toward a liquid state capable of permitting the product to spread out in the form of a thin layer. The invention is particularly directed to depilatory wax applicators, but it is evident that the meltable product applicator according to the invention is not in any way limited to this specific use, and that meltable products such as waxes and glues can be applied with the aid of an applicator according to the invention.
Regardless of the type of depilatory wax applicator considered, the technique of hair removal by the application of a depilatory wax consists in melting or softening a certain quantity of wax, then applying a layer of this wax, in a molten or softened state, to the region from which hair is to be removed. After hardening, that is to say after cooling, of the wax, a film of cold wax is created and is then peeled away from the skin with the aid of any appropriate means, hairs being then plucked from the skin as a result of their being embedded in the wax.
This widely used technique can be implemented with known ready-to-use hot wax distributors constituted by a reservoir for wax which is heated by any suitable means, for example by an apparatus analogous to a water heater. These devices are completed by a simple wax distributing roller which is independent of the reservoir and which the user introduces into the wax mass in order to coat it with a quantity of wax. These devices, which are rather primitive, have been found to no longer meet the needs of users of depilatory wax particularly in view of the numerous inconveniences associated with their use. Thus, the temperature of application of the wax is practically uncontrollable as well as, moreover, the thickness to which the wax layer is applied. These devices are also considered to be cumbersome and give rise to a hair removal operation which is lengthy, tedious, often messy and typically wastes a certain quantity of wax.
Improved devices for this purpose have been proposed, for example as disclosed in French application number FR-A-2520601. That patent discloses an applicator assembly including a case provided with heating enclosures in which are housed manual applicators which are to be used by an individual. These applicators are provided with an internal depilatory wax reservoir and a wax applicator roller. Such an applicator of course constitutes an improvement over previous devices, but it does not completely resolve the essential problem of mastery of the wax application temperature. In effect, heating of the wax occurs only in a discontinuous, or periodic, manner when the applicator is in the heating enclosure. It is found, consequently, that after a certain application period, the temperature of the wax decreases rapidly and is thus no longer at or near the optimum temperature. As a result, application of the wax becomes increasingly difficulty. In particular, there appears a phenomenon whereby wax threads or filaments appear, which has a negative influence on the quality of the hair removal. This drawback is accompanied by an excessive consumption of wax and a heterogeneous application which in the end leads to an unsatisfactory depilatory operation. In order to partly alleviate this problem, the user is obliged to frequently return the applicator into a heating enclosure. However, this prolongs the time required for the entire depilatory operation to an undesirable extent, without at the same time guaranteeing a better mastery of the temperature of the wax or for that matter a better final result.
It has thus been proposed, in order to remedy at least in part the shortcomings of applicator devices in which the heating reservoir is separated from the application unit, to provide, for example as described in European application A-0368698, a manual applicator including in the same case, a wax reservoir, a heating resistance and an applicator roller. In order to facilitate application of the wax, and also to better control the temperature of the wax, the applicator roller is provided with its own heating means. Such a device assures an improved control of the temperature at which the wax is applied and reduces in a certain manner the risk of appearance of the threads or filaments mentioned previously. The presence of a heating means directly in the applicator roller can create the risk of overheating of the wax and burning of the user's skin. In addition, such a device has been found to present certain design and manufacturing difficulties to the extent that it requires the installation of two heating means which are separated in a case. In the end, the reliability of such a device is not assured and its cost has been found to be high.